Global connections in the classroom

Global Connections in the Classroom

About Bob Heinrich

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

http://Del.icio.us
Online social bookmarking destination where users can save bookmarked sites on a personal Bookmarking Website

What you can do with del.icio.us:
Save and access your bookmarks from any computer
Share your bookmarks and access other people’s bookmarks
Search del.icio.us to find other people who are interested in the same topic and check out their research

Diigo
Bookmark website
Index them with tags
Annotate web pages with highlights, comments, and sticky notes

Help teachers find collaborative learning partners and appropriate projects

Blogging – What is it?
A blog (short for weblog) is a web-based journal that is typically updated frequently and open for anyone to read.
Entries are created in journal style and usually displayed in reverse chronological order
Blogs can be hosted by dedicated blog hosting services or they can be run using blog software

How could a Blog benefit your course?
Personal Introductions
Study guides and online learning and teaching (OLT) sites for each course unit.
A download facility where students can access PowerPoint lecture slides, WWW links, solutions to problems, past examination papers
Students make contributions based on the subject matter they students are studying
Dissemination of Important Classroom Information beyond the Classroom

Blogs in Education
Easily Updatable Content
RSS Feed (Bloglines)
Podcasting
Vodcasting
Screencasting
Homework
Announcements
Tools
No Downloads
Easy to Update
Easy to Navigate
Easy Linking
Simple Design

Wiki
Similar to a blog; however, ownership of the wiki is distributed to numerous individuals who collectively add and edit web-accessible content.

Podcasting – What is it?

How is Podcasting Relevant to Education?
Multimedia
99% free
Can be listened to on many platforms:
desktop, laptop, handhelds, MP3
players, cell phones
Mobile
Low cost to broadcast = cheap
publishing platform and more content

Opportunities for authentic student products
Sound-seeing tours
Broadcast student audio plays
Interviews with content experts
Ongoing student produced “ radio ” talk shows about content learned

Imagine if … Podcasts are a new web resource to support life long learning. The WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE under your control.

The process
Find a podcast of interest, add it to your subscription list in iTunes on your CPU.
Each time you launch iTunes or plug in your iPod, the most recent episodes will download into your personal library.
Listen at your convenience from your CPU or portable MP3 player.

Actually, it is not just audio
Audio
Audio with images
Video
Photos
PDFs
Photos Video Audio & Slides

How to Listen
Students can access content directly from where the links to the files are posted on the web
Podcast Software (clients) let you subscribe to and manage podcasts.
http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html

Common Misconceptions
A podcast can only be listened to on an iPod
A podcast can only be listed to through iTunes
You need a MAC to create a Podcast

RSS
One of the great things about listening to podcasts is that you can subscribe to what’s called an RSS feed. Once you’re subscribed, your podcatcher will check the feed regularly for new episodes. When a new episode is posted, the podcatcher will automatically download the audio file for you to listen to.
An RSS feed is nothing more than a specially formatted text file. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.
You don’t need to worry about understanding RSS or writing out the feed file by hand. There are ways to create it automatically.

Creating Podcasts
Preproduction - audience, research, script, music and sounds, practice
Recording - microphone, audio software
Postproduction - editing
Publishing

Preproduction
Purpose of the show
Identify your audience
Live or mixed?
Format
Journal - more conversational
Audio essay or commentary
Discussion
Sound seeing tours
Other - music, plays, interviews, reviews

Preproduction
Brainstorm or outline episode content
Create timeline or storyboard
Write script
0 Min 10 Min Segments Transition Music Theme Music Theme Music

Preproduction
Research topic
Gather audio resources - music, stingers, sound effects, etc
Finalize script
Rehearse
Locate quiet area for recording

Recording
“ Quiet on the set!”
Record voice audio from script
Options for recording
Internal or external microphone
Headset with microphone
Portable recording devices
Cell phone - Gcast
Skypecasting

Postproduction
Editing
Import music and sound effects
Add effects and normalize
Fine tune audio files
Export as MP3

Publishing
Upload file to server
Create RSS feed file
Or
Use Edublogs or Podbean to host your podcast

Audacity
Download and Install Audacity Software
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download
Download and Install the LAME MP3 Encoder
http://lame.buanzo.com.ar
Ensure that your Recording and Playback Devices are Configured
Start Audacity
Record a Podcast
Export Podcast to an MP3 File

Uploading your Podcast to the Internet
Create an account at Podbean.com
Upload Podcast files to Podbean.com

Skype is a free and easy way for teachers to open up their classroom and their students to a world way beyond their campus.
With Skype, students can learn from other students, connect with other cultures, and expand their knowledge in amazing ways.
Teachers and parents can also benefit from Skype in the classroom
http://education.skype.com/

Getting up and Running with Skype
Hardware/software required :
downloaded skype software,
higher bandwidth connection
web camera
desktop microphone and earphones, or headset
Interactive white board for display or a white wall, and data projector if videoconferencing with a class.

A webpage that you can edit, is easy to use and is perfect for collaborative learning.

Wiki in the Classroom
Use Wiki’s as a tool to enhance learning.
Don’t use in isolation.
Make it relevant to what is being taught in class.
They are a great motivator.
Easy to monitor.
Allows for creativity and innovation.
Encourages participation.
Promotes communication between students.
A new, interesting way to learn.

Personal Learning Network
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging site that enables users to send short, concise messages to each other
It is a means of disseminating information quickly to a large amount of people; it allows people to express their thoughts and have their opinions heard quickly
Follow Hashtags

Twitter in Plain English

How can Twitter be used to improve my students’ education?
David Perry, an assistant professor of Emerging Media
and Communications at the University of Texas at Dallas
calls Twitter a “classroom communication tool”
He required his students to sign up for Twitter and send
a few messages with the site each week. The students
were required to subscribe to his Twitter feed, and he
updated his students several times a day on useful
web sites, or announcements throughout the day
He felt that the use of Twitter by the class helped to
improve classroom discussions
Source: “Twitter In The Classroom” http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/01/twitter-in-the-classroom.html

David Perry’s Benefits of Using Twitter in the Classroom
Twitter is a way to record thoughts and ideas
that you search – it’s a history
Twitter connects you to a larger world outside
of the classroom and even the country
Students can follow people who do what they
want to do or who they admire and get a sense
for their job and life
Twitter can improve writing and punctuation

Step 1: In your web browser address bar, type in http://twitter.com Step 2: Since you are a new user, you will need to create a’ new account. Click the button on the screen labeled “ Sign up now”

The following screen will appear. It will ask you to type in your full name, the username you would like to use, the password you would like to use, and your e-mail address.

As you enter your information, you will know if the names you have chosen are available or not. You may need to try out different usernames until you find a unique one.

After you accept the terms of service and submit your information, you will be asked to type in a couple of random words in order to confirm your information. This is done to ensure that the user is not creating a computer-generated account in order to send spam messages to other Twitter users.

The next page makes some suggestions on how to find other Twitter users to “follow”. You can choose catagories such as Art & Design, Entertainment, Fashion, Music, News, Politics, Sports, and many more! Once you find some interesting tweets, you can “follow” the person who posted it. When you “ follow” someone, whatever they “tweet” will appear on your personal Twitter page!

One way of finding people to “follow” is to search for the names of friends or people that you personally know. You can click the blue button labeled “Find friends” to help you in this process! When searching for a friend to follow, make sure to check that person’s profile and picture to be sure it’s the right person!

On the left side of the next page, you will see a search box that allows you to type in the name of someone you might not personally know, but is someone you would like to follow. That person might be a fellow teacher at another school, a public figure such as a politician or a celebrity, or otherwise. You could also search for a Twitter account used by a company, a television station, or an organization.

Once again, before you follow someone, check out the profile and picture of that person to make sure it’s the person you want! President Obama’s real Twitter account A satirical Twitter account spotlighting President Obama

To go to the Twitter page for your account, click the blue button labeled “Next Step…You’re Done!” The page for your Twitter account will load, and if you’ve “followed” anyone, the most recent updates from them will appear in the left column In the order they were sent, the most recent updates appearing at the top. as long as you are signed in, you will be continually updated!

Before you start “tweeting”, you might want to update your profile so others can find you easily. At the top right of the screen you will see a number of different links, including the link for your “Profile”. Click on this link to upload a picture for your avatar, your location, the address for your website (if you have one), and a short biography (up to 160 characters).

Click on the link labeled “Settings” to make changes to details in your account, including:
Your
username
Your
password
the
language
in which
you want
to “tweet”
time zone
tweet
location
tweet
privacy

On the “Settings” page, you can upload a picture of your choice for your personal avatar. You should upload a personal picture so that you can be easily identified when other Twitter users are looking to “ follow” you.

The “Design” link allows you to choose the background that will appear behind your Twitter feed. You can choose from the designs that are supplied, or you can load your own background image, or you can change the colors in the designs. If you are feeling especially creative, you can use the “ Themelon” feature on the right side of the page to choose from thousands of designs and color palettes.

Once you are ready to begin “tweeting”, click the “Home” link at the top right of the page. You will come back to the main screen for your account. At the top of the screen on the left will be where you type in your updates. Since Twitter is a micro-blogging site, you will only be allowed to enter short, concise updates. In these updates, you can say whatever you want, as long as the message doesn’t exceed 140 characters. This includes spaces between words!

After you tweet, it will appear at the top of your Twitter feed!

When tweeting, there will be times when you want to make your followers aware of different websites or links that you find interesting. You are able to copy and paste the URL for a website or a website link in your Twitter update box, as well as a short description of what the link is about.

After you post your tweet, the URL link that you included becomes a hyperlink that others can click on to go that website!

There will be times when the URL address for a link you want to update others on is so long that it cuts into the available number of characters in your Twitter update box. If you run out of characters, your update will only include up to the 140th character. In order to shorten the length of a weblink and still send along a usuable URL address, you can use URL shortening websites such as http://bit.ly or http://tinyurl.com These sites allow you to copy and paste a website URL into its box and create a shorter URL that you can copy and paste back into your Twitter update box.

URL shortening websites such as http://bit.ly and http://tinyurl.com convert long URL addresses into shorter URL addresses That you can copy and paste back into Twitter. This will Help reduce the number of characters in your “Tweet”!

When copied and pasted into your tweet, you can click on the shortened URL that leads to the link you want others to view. This shortened URL link is only temporary. You won’t be able to type this URL into an address bar at any time, or it won’t work.

It is very important to keep up with the Twitter usernames of the people you want to send updates to. Every Twitter Username begins with an “@” symbol Followed by the Twitter username. For example, when I want to send a tweet to Conan O’Brien, I include the Twitter address “ @ConanOBrien” in my message…or else it won’t be sent to him!

Your latest tweet will appear in two places on your Twitter page:
Directly underneath the
“ What’s Happening?”
box
At the top of your
Twitter feed…at least
until tweets from
the people you follow
are posted

You can choose to reply to a tweet that someone has sent you, or you can choose to repeat a tweet to call attention to it. Navigate to find the tweet in question, and you will see that you will have the option to either “reply” or “re-tweet” that message. Replying to the tweet will allow you to send a tweet back to the person who originally sent the message. “ Re-tweeting” allows you to repeat the message and send it to additional Twitter users.

When you reply to a tweet, the Twitter address of the person who you are replying to automatically appears in the message box. Then you can respond to the message that will be directly relayed back to the other Tweeter!

When you “ re-tweet” a message from another Twitter user, it will re-post that tweet so that your followers can be made aware of it. You are also able to add your own comment to a re-tweeted post.

On Twitter, you will often see tweets that contain number signs (#) followed by one or more words highlighted in blue. These are called “ tags”, and are used to help you search for tweets with a common theme. Click on the tag, and you will see a list of search results of tweets containing those tags.

Along the right side of your Twitter home page you will see the top 10 tags that are “ trending”, or the top searches on Twitter at the moment. These searches often reflect current events in society, politics, or in pop culture.

How Twitter can be used in different subject areas LANGUAGE ARTS
Have students post tweets of their reactions to the
developments in the stories they read
Have students summarize stories in “tweet” form
Choose a genre (fairy tale, mystery, adventure);
post the beginning of a story; have students take
turns continuing the story by “tweeting” their
additions
Have students practice their skills using synonyms
or antonyms; one Tweeter posts a word and
students take turns posting words that are similar or
different in meaning
Source: “How to Use Twitter in the Classroom”, http://www.docstoc.com/docs/5649046/How-To-Use-Twitter-in-the-Classroom

How Twitter can be used in different subject areas MATH
Teachers can “Tweet” short word problems and petition
students to reply with the correct answers—1 st correct
tweet wins a prize!
Students can “tweet” their own original word problems
to the class and see if anyone can solve it
Teachers prompt students to “tweet” the steps in solving
different types of math problems in concise words
Students can “follow” professionals in the mathematics
education field and ask questions about their profession,
etc.

How Twitter can be used in different subject areas SOCIAL STUDIES
Use Twitter to gather information from their followers
about their location
Have students search Twitter for tags with terms such
as “poverty”, “disaster”, and “war” to keep up with
tweets of current events
Have students summarize important events in
“ Tweet” form
Create a new Twitter account dedicated to a particular
social topic and have it keep track of students’ collective
tweets

How Twitter can be used in different subject areas SCIENCE
Have students gather information from their followers
about the current temperature from where they are;
analyze information and create a graph with results
Have students summarize different scientific processes
in “tweet” form
Have students follow a scientist of interest and have
them write a summary of that person’s professional
activities over the course of a week
Teachers “tweet” an unbalanced chemical equation;
students reply with their tweets of the balanced
chemical equation

How Twitter can be used in different subject areas FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Convert the language that you view the tweets in to
your respective language (Spanish, French, etc.)
and ask students to translate what is being “tweeted”
by others
Have students tweet sentences in your respective
language and have them reply to the tweets in that
language
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Have students tweet their daily progress in an exercise
regimen; for example, # of laps run, # of reps lifted, etc.

For more information please address all correspondence to: Robert R. Heinrich Director of Academic Computing The Richard Stockton College of NJ 609-626-6039 Email: [email_address]

Global connections in the classroom

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